CSXT has renamed its Chicago Service Lane. It is now the
Nashville Service Lane. A new Chicago Service "Unit" has been
established to represent the Chicago Terminal area and the line extending
south to Woodland Junction, Illinois.

CSXT's Damaged Freight Ratio Lowest Ever Recorded

CSXT has announced that its damaged freight ratio for
1997 was the lowest ever recorded by the railroad, surpassing all other
major U.S. freight railroads. Freight claims by customers amounted to 19
cents per hundred dollars of freight value handled.

Amtrak Shows Ridership Increases in Illinois

Ridership on Amtrak's state-supported Illinois trains
through the first two months of the year showed increases ranging from
12 to 18 percent. The trains involved operate from Chicago to St. Louis,
Quincy and Carbondale, respectively, with February's on time performance
for the three routes being nearly 96 percent.

UP and BNSF Open Joint Dispatching Center in Texas

Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe opened
a joint regional dispatching center in Spring, Texas, March 15 to control
operations between Houston and New Orleans over about 340 miles of jointly
owned track.

BNSF Completes Double Track Project in New Mexico

Burlington Northern Santa Fe recently completed 14 miles
of additional double track on the Clovis Subdivision between Cantara and
Tolar, New Mexico, with an additional 23-mile segment slated to be completed
this month between Melrose and Taiban, New Mexico. The segments involved
see an average of 75 trains a day, according to a BNSF news release.

Amtrak Performance Improves on Conrail

Conrail reports its Amtrak on time performance in 1997
improved 11.2 percent, the biggest improvement of any host carrier on the
Amtrak network.

The Surface Transportation Board has issued a notice stating
that interested parties to the proposed Conrail acquisition must inform
the board by April 10 of their intentions to participate in oral arguments,
now slated to begin June 4 in Washington.

Depot at New Freedom, Pennsylvania, to be Rebuilt

After several failed attempts to restore the historic
Pennsylvania Railroad train depot at New Freedom, Pennsylvania, a decision
was finally made to tear the thing down and start over. Some of the original
lumber, about 10 percent, can be used in the new structure; it will be
rebuilt in stages with a pavilion-type structure appearing at first. Later
increments to replicate its original design will proceed as funding permits.

Southern Railway Roundhouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Demolished

The circa 1916-1917 Southern Railway roundhouse, located
off of Holland Lane in Alexandria, Virginia, met its fate during the first
two weeks of March 1998. The building, which in recent years had been home
to a lumber company, was demolished to make room for further progress on
the Carlyle Project, a joint effort of Norfolk Southern with the Carlyle
Development Company to develop the former Southern yard property in Alexandria.